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West Coast Regional Harmful Algal Bloom Summit

February 10-12 Workshop (Invitation Only)

Workshop Drivers
The West Coast Governors’ Agreement (WCGA) Action Plan calls for a HAB workshop to reach consensus on the present state-of-knowledge and prioritize the information needed by decision makers to lessen the impacts of the HAB events on humans and critical marine resources.  The West Coast Regional HAB Summit presents an opportunity for the West Coast HAB community to raise the profile of their efforts and concerns, and focus attention on future research and management needs.

The Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (ECOHAB) and Monitoring and Event Response for Harmful Algal Blooms (MERHAB) programs are legislatively mandated through the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act (HABHRCA), established in 1998, reauthorized in 2004, and currently undergoing a second reauthorization.  In keeping with HABHRCA’s directive to provide local and regional scientific assessments of HABs, one outcome from the West Coast Regional HAB Summit is a West Coast Regional HAB Research and Action Plan that will identify: 1) regional priorities for research on the ecology and impacts of HABs and for HAB monitoring, prediction, prevention, control, and mitigation technologies; and 2) strategies for prevention, control, and mitigation and event response to be implemented at local, State, and regional levels. 

Recommendations in this Action Plan will be used to guide research prioritization in NOAA/CSCOR’s West Coast Regional ECOHAB, MERHAB, and the newly developed HAB Prevention, Control and Mitigation (PCM) programs. 

Summit Outcomes:
1. Pre-meeting White Paper on the State of Knowledge on the Distribution, Causes, and Impacts of West Coast Harmful Algal Blooms.
2. Reports from Breakout Sessions:
a) West Coast Regional HAB Monitoring, Alert, and Response Network: Goals, Users, and Management Needs from Breakout Session I;
b) West Coast Regional HAB Monitoring, Alert, and Response Network: System Requirements and Design from Breakout Sessions II and III;
c) Developing a West Coast Regional Forecasting System: Research Needs and Management Applications from Breakout Session IV.
3. West Coast Regional HAB Research and Action Plan

For more information about the workshop contact alan.lewitus@noaa.gov